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Naginatajutsu

  • 10 min read
  • 7 chapters

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History

Origins

The naginata originates from development of the Japanese spear called hoko yari of the later 1st millennium AD. It has been suggested that it developed along the same lines as Okinawan kobudō weapons as a modified farming tool. Others say that creative samurai in need of a longer weapon attached a sword to a pole. Perhaps the simplest explanation is the natural development of polearms. Polearms are intended as mass weapons, to be used not just by individual warriors, but by formations of soldiers together on field battles and not for dueling. When fighting in close order, two-handed cut-and-thrust weapons, such as halberds and glaives, are much more efficient than mere spears or swords because of their versatility compared to spears and longer reach compared to swords. Fighting in massed formation does not require similar individual weapon-handling skills as required by a skilled swordsman. Naginata are almost identical in appearance to both the glaive and the guan dao, and it is most likely result of parallel evolution.

Pre-Modern Japan

The oldest account of naginata is in the Kojiki and battle paintings by Tengyo no ran, in 980 AD (Heian period). The naginata was a weapon widely used mainly by Onna-musha (女武者, warrior women), Sôhei (僧兵; warrior monks), and Yamabushi (山伏, mountain monks).

In the early history of its use, the naginata was primarily used against cavalry, as its length kept the wielder a safe distance from horses and their riders.

Its use became popular around the year 1000 AD. In the centuries that followed, the naginata's popularity rose and fell as tactics used in battle evolved.

The importance of naginata for samurai can be attested by the relatively large number of styles of bujutsu that have incorporated it in their curriculum, to name a few: Suiō-ryū, Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, Tendō-ryū, Toda-ha Bukō-ryū, and the Yōshin-ryū.

During the Tokugawa period (1603–1868), the naginata was transformed into a status symbol to distinguish women of samurai families, as well as being the primary means for a woman to defend her home while her husband was away in times of war. This period also saw the propagation of the naginata as a feminine art and the weapon serving as more of a symbol of devotion to a woman's family.

Modern Japan

With the end of the Samurai era and the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan was modernized and many of the old practices fell into disuse. During the Shōwa era, Naginata became part of the physical education school curriculum for girls. The practice at this time was called naginata-dō (薙刀道; lit. "way of the naginata").

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the practice was remodeled, resulting in two naginata practices: koryū naginata (古流薙刀; "old" or classical naginata) and atarashii naginata (新しいなぎなた; "new" or modern naginata).

Despite the differences, the two ways of practicing naginata share many things in common. In both, the practice is systematized according to a tradition of strokes, cuts, and movements of the left and right in various directions, promoting training with an emphasis on the form and beauty of the movement.

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